


To Each Their Own (Love Language)

by jupiterandback



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Angry Judy, Comedy, F/F, Fluff, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Massage, Nightmares, Romance, a WHOLE lot of fluff, badass merc v can't build a table
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28578609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jupiterandback/pseuds/jupiterandback
Summary: V and Judy each have their own ways of saying "I love you," and all of them are unconventional.
Relationships: Judy Alvarez/Female V, Judy Alvarez/V
Comments: 42
Kudos: 433





	To Each Their Own (Love Language)

She was bone-weary, she was hungry, and she was achingly sore. Such were the consequences of being a merc, and Judy made sure to voice that to V when she stumbled through her front door.

“You can barely fuckin’ walk!” Judy muttered a few phrases in Spanish that were too quiet for V’s translator to pick up and for the first time in her life, V was thankful for limitations.

“Just a good night’s sleep,” V groaned as she attempted to stand up from the edge of the bathtub, feeling the strain and burn in her thighs and calves. She veered quite a bit to the left instead of going straight and then decided that she was going straight to Vik’s after this. Off with her human legs.

“Slowly,  _ slowly, _ gonk!” Judy rushed forwards from leaning against the wall, ducking under V’s arm and wrapping an arm around her waist. Step by step, she led V to their - her - their -  _ the  _ room. 

“Aren’t boosters s’posed to deal with this crap?” Judy frowned and placed her hands on her hips when V plopped unceremoniously on their - Judy’s -  _ their  _ bed. V immediately turned facedown on the bed, sighing in relief.

“Dunno,” the merc replied. Judy scoffed, and V felt the bed dip as Judy sat down on the edge. “Think it’s just… deals with pain… somethin’ like that…” V’s eyes drifted closed in the comfort of their bed and Judy’s presence.

They shot right back open when she felt Judy’s warm hand slide under her shirt.

“Help me get this off,” Judy commanded, and slid the shirt up further V’s back.

“Jude, I’m  _ sore- _ y-” V turned her head with a grin to see Judy dramatically rolling her eyes. “-no, but I can’t reciprocate, I can hardly move-”

“You and your mind, always in the gutter,” Judy chuckled. She tapped V’s side, and V grumbled, lifting her torso up so Judy could pry the shirt off. “Wanted to try something.” 

Judy stood from the bed, and V watched as she sauntered to the bathroom, watching the hypnotizing sway of her hips. V wondered if Judy did that on purpose, or if she was just inherently programmed to be sexy. 

Judy came back with a bottle of lotion, and V’s mind went straight back to the gutter.

“Lube? I can’t think of one time we ever needed lube-”

“A  _ massage,  _ my dear output,” Judy laughed as she set the lotion on the floor beside the bed. She pressed a kiss on V’s forehead before she straddled V’s backside. 

“Oh,” V mumbled dumbly. She felt the push of warm hands on her back, and her head lolled forward onto the pillow. “ _ Oh.” _

Judy’s hands worked masterfully, carving out and around her back muscles, kneading V’s toughest knots until her back was completely loose and limber. When Judy couldn’t find any more tightness in her back, she settled for roaming her hands around V’s back, shoulders and arms aimlessly, humming that melody from when they dove to Laguna bend.

V’s heart felt fuller than her arsenal before a gunfight, and she couldn’t help but burrow her head further into the pillow. There was no way that a woman like Judy Alvarez loved her back like the way V did. In Night City where one would have to look after their own hide to survive, here Judy was, giving V a massage that benefited her in no way or form and expected nothing in return. It screwed with V’s mind worse than the Relic does.

If she had the time, one day, she might ask. Judy deserved the world, not a merc who’s due to flatline in a couple of weeks. 

Surprisingly, Johnny stayed silent during her contemplation. Maybe he was just as dumbfounded as her. They were both hopeless with women. 

“I love it when you do that,” V confessed. To her chagrin, Judy stopped humming to answer.

“Do what?”

“Hum, sing. Care. Exist. Anything, really.”

“How romantic,” Judy deadpanned, but she leaned forward and planted a kiss on the side of V’s neck. Judy settled on top of V’s back, stroking her arms softly. “Anything?”

V shifted onto her back, and Judy rested her chin on V’s chest, looking at her. V observed Judy’s eyes. She remembered when they once held nothing but coldness and steel when they first met. V at the time thought that naturally, those were the eyes of someone who tinkered with hardcore smut on a daily basis.

But now, those very same eyes revealed everything. She saw Judy’s suffering, her losses, her fears all translated through her pupil and the shimmering of her iris. Her regrets shone so brightly that V wondered how she never saw it in the first place.

She also saw Judy’s happiness, her satedness… her adoration, as she looked back at V. Her mischief twinkled in the curve of her eyelids, her determination settled in the hard-set of her eyebrows, her trust sat on the arc of her lips, and her beauty laid in everywhere V looked. 

“What?” Judy’s smile inched upwards. 

“Thank you.” V lifted her hand to cup the side of Judy’s face, and the other woman closed her eyes and leaned into the contact, sending V’s heart into somersaults. 

When Judy opened her eyes again, V found knowing in them. Judy knew V wasn’t just thanking her for the massage.

“Anything,” Judy whispered. 

In their own language, they loved each other.

Judy settled her head back onto V’s chest and resumed her humming, lulling the merc to sleep.

\--

A gig in the Badlands reached late into the night, and with Johnny’s constant nagging, V reluctantly checked into the Sunset Hotel instead of driving home.

She tossed and turned in bed, willing her eyes to close and her brain to shut down, but when they did, they woke her up again with nightmares full of death and destruction. V balled up her fists and checked her phone.

It was three in the morning. She had five gigs left to do in the Badlands, and if she didn’t get her fucking brain to shut down for a few hours, her rep would go canoodling with the fishes.

But her brain was good at thinking. And so it thought.

It thought about Arasaka. It thought about the biochip. It thought about Judy. It thought about the disgusting teriyaki in the Yagami market. It thought about shutting up Johnny in the corner who was currently lamenting about his days in 2020, thinking he’s helping by trying to bore V to sleep. It thought about Judy. It thought about how unsanitary Sunset Hotel actually was, if the exposed needles on the floor were any indication. It thought about Judy.

Judy.

Judy probably stayed up late editing BDs like she usually does when V isn't home, the advantageous gonk. But as much as V didn't want to disturb her output's beauty sleep, her brain was chanting  _ Judy Judy Judy  _ like it was an incantation for immediate sleep, somehow.

“One call,” she told herself, and Johnny threw his hands up in the corner and disappeared.

V picked up her phone, scrolled through her contacts, and pressed on Judy’s name.

The phone rang once, twice, thrice, four times before V shook her head and almost ended the call until-

“V?”

Her brain immediately stopped functioning, and V would’ve considered it a victory if she didn’t lose the ability to think from Judy uttering a single syllable.

She could hardly make out Judy’s figure from the call because of the darkness of her room, but she still raked her eyes over her output’s curves and outline.

“Hey, Jude,” V murmured. She scratched the back of her neck. “I’m sorry, were you sleeping?”

“At 3 AM? No.” Judy’s voice was scratchy and rough from sleep, in that low timbre V knew so well. “I’m just... teaching my pet rhino the splits.”

V smiled. “Sorry to interrupt your lovely date with your rhino, then. I just… just really wanted to hear your voice.”

It took a moment before she heard the bed creaking on the other line, most likely Judy shifting to a more comfortable position. V wished she were there with her. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…”

“The nightmares,” Judy finished for her.

“Yeah.” V grabbed the pillow from under her head and shifted onto her back. She positioned the pillow so that half of it was draped on top of her, and its top was tucked right under her chin. 

_ "Whipped enough to make a Judy Junior,"  _ Johnny drawled, motioning towards the pillow. V knew Johnny, and it was painfully obvious that this was a halfhearted attempt at lightening the mood. At her deciphering, he smiled sadly.  _ "Can't blame me for tryin'."  _ He looked away.  _ "Those nightmares… Even I- urgh. You're one lucky gonk to have a girl like her." _

He disappeared before V could tell him that yeah, she did know she was one lucky gonk to have Judy.

V took a deep breath, welling all her other worries away and reaching for the anchor to her consciousness that was Judy Alvarez waiting on the other side of the line. “Would you… could you maybe stay on the line? Don’t have to talk, I just think that…”

“I’m here, V.” V heard more shifting on the other end, and her brain finally woke up only to entertain the notion that Judy was doing the same thing she was; sleeping like they would, miles apart. She tugged the pillow - Judy Junior, as Johnny coined it - tighter. 

She heard soft breathing on the other end of the line, shut her eyes, and tried to focus on their rhythm, Judy’s inhales and exhales. She counted the seconds in between, and yet her brain never stopped thinking. 

Then, Judy started humming.

It was a nonsensical tune, something V didn’t recognize, but it did the trick. Judy’s soft croon breached her defenses, and the darkness of slumber greeted V into its embrace.

In the morning, the call was still open and active.

“Morning,” V tested, and frowned at the roughness of her morning timbre. 

“Morning,” came the reply from the other line, and V smiled at Judy’s chipper tone. It appeared that Judy was making breakfast, stirring something in a pan enthusiastically.

“How’d you know?”

Judy made a sound that sounded like a question, and V elaborated.

“How’d you know I still wasn’t sleeping? Last night.”

“Oh.” Judy chuckled. “‘coz you snore when you sleep.”

Judy must’ve been psychic, because before V could apologize, she continued: “But it’s like a cute snore… honestly, I don’t think I can sleep properly without it.”

V cursed the nightmares that haunted the both of them. 

“V?” Judy set her pan down on the counter and investigated its contents. “Hurry up with your gigs. Breakfast is going to get cold.” 

Judy made breakfast for two, even when V was miles away. 

“I lo-” V bit back her tongue and stared at her phone with widened eyes. 

Judy was looking at her with an indecipherable look on her face, hands on her hips, and heart in V’s hands. She smiled. “V.”

Judy knew.

“Fast as I can,” V promised. Judy blew a kiss, and the call ended.

V spotted Johnny leaning against the wall, staring at the ground. 

“What?” V asked at his scrunched posture. He looked up at her.

_ “This is gonna make shit hard.”  _

He didn’t even have to say it, or specify what “shit” was. 

V knew. 

She sighed, gathered her guns and belongings, and stepped out into the fresh air of the Badlands. 

\--

V entered El Coyote Cojo, the bar, with nothing less than a split lip, a bruised face, multiple open gashes on her arm, and red blossoming the front of her shirt.

She should’ve let Mama Welles usher her into the backroom, she really should’ve. But as she plopped down on a barstool and motioned for Pepe, she decided that alcohol on the inside would do just as much good as it does on the outside.

“You look like shit,” Pepe stated.

“I know,” V acknowledged. 

“Smell like shit too.”

“Thanks.”

“The usual?”

“Mhm.”

Pepe poured tequila into a glass and set it in front of V, then seemed to consider for a moment before leaving the bottle too.

“What for?” V frowned at the entire bottle of tequila. Maybe Pepe had a sixth sense, but she wasn’t about to blow the eddies she just got from a job went terribly wrong on a bottle of celebratory tequila. She was supposed to be saving for-

“Your output?” Pepe jerked his chin up towards the door. V turned around.

The storming cloud that was Judy Alvarez stomped her way through the front door, her overalls wet from the rain and her eyes glistening with pure bloody murder. Her hands, which V knew so well, were curled into fists. Every step she took seemed to reverberate through the walls of the club, and even its patrons - mostly battle-hardened Valentinos with biceps as big as dump trucks - quieted in the midst of her march.

V would’ve laughed at the absurdity, but death approached wearing overalls and if that wasn’t a scary picture, she didn’t know what was.

“Oh boy,” Pepe said, and V heard the  _ clunk  _ of another bottle being put on the table. “Good luck.”

In the corner of the bar, Johnny chortled.  _ “You think they sell popcorn in this joint?” _

“What the  _ fuck  _ were you thinking?!” 

V winced at the volume of Judy's voice. In her peripherals, she saw numerous heads turn. "Um-"

Judy grabbed V's hand, tugging her off of her barstool and leading her to the outside of the bar. Once outside, they turned the curb, where Judy's big blue van sat. Judy opened the passenger door first, glaring meaningfully at V, and V climbed in.

V took it as a good thing. If Judy were truly, hate-her-guts mad at her then V wouldn't even be able to see the light of day, much less have her car door opened.

"Fuckin-" Judy cursed as she climbed in the driver's seat and slammed the door closed, making the merc jump. 

Judy turned to V. V wished she could turn to God. 

"You screwed up a  _ big  _ Mox op, taking on the Animals like a whirlwind of stupidity," Judy huffed and paused. V wasn't sure if she was expecting a reply, but her mouth was glued shut thanks to her seldom-seen friend, fear.

Judy raised her hand, and V closed her eyes expecting the sting of a slap but-

"You could've gotten yourself killed," Judy said softly, and brushed her thumb over a gash above V's right eyebrow. 

V opened her eyes to see Judy's eyes raking over the marks of battle all over V's body, still with the same steely look in her eyes, but at least without the scowl on her lips.

_ "The… fuck?"  _ V heard Johnny speak somewhere behind her.  _ "Where's all the hair-pullin' and shit?" _

"We talked about this." Judy looked at V, stubbornness written all over her face. "You don't have to take on all your gigs."

"I know," V croaked out, reaching to take Judy's hand and clutching it.

"So why?"

V had to look away from the pleading look on Judy's face. "You'll see… later."

Judy sighed. "At least you're in one piece. You're letting me clean you up at home." She looked warily at the gashes on her arm, and squeezed V's hand. "Nothing stupid like that ever again, you hear?"

V stayed silent as Judy started up the van and drove them home, Johnny's presence behind her burning a hole in her soul.

A couple days later, V stood up, wiping the sweat away from her forehead with her arm.

_ "Not bad lookin'."  _ Johnny whistled at their creation.  _ "Of course, without my help, this thing'd just be a hunk of metal." _

V ejected the shard for the manual out of her head. "Totally."

In the midst of Johnny's uninteresting argument, V heard the front door open four hours before it should've and her head shot up faster than a Kusanagi.

Judy stared, wide-eyed, at the absolute mess of metal, cables, and pegs strewn all over the living room and the finished adjustable desk sitting smack in the middle of it all, right beside a bewildered V.

"Um… surprise?" V tried for a smile.

By the further widening of Judy's eyes and the loose hinging of her jaw, V knew that Judy, with her techie brain and a mere 5-second glance at this mess, knew exactly what it was supposed to be.

"No," Judy said, and V's heart fell. She should've known better than to get Judy a gift that ties her with her work, tech, something that reminds her of her tether to this city.

Judy stepped closer to V, who looked like a deer caught in headlights according to Johnny. 

"The Animals gig… this-?"

V didn’t even blink when she took down tons of Night City’s supposed toughest gang, but here she stands, shivering to the bone at the indecipherable look in her output’s eyes. Johnny scoffed in the corner. 

V nodded slowly. “I- uh… wanted to do something for you. Something nice. You deserve it.” At the dumbfounded look on Judy’s face, she bent down to fumble with the loose screws. “I mean, if you don’t like it, that’s fine, I can just go return it and-” 

A warm body suddenly trucked into V and sent them both tumbling into the ground. V ended up on her back, wincing at the screws and tools on the floor poking into her back. Judy sat up on V’s lap, jabbing a finger into her sternum.

“Don’t you ever pull any kind of shit like that again,” Judy hissed. The finger curled into a fist that rested just above V’s heart. “Especially not for me.” 

“Judy, I-” V choked on her words. It was too early for that. “I care about you. A fucking lot. I just… wanted to show you.”

“V, the best present I want is you. Alive.” Judy splayed her fingers on V’s chest, pressing down slightly to feel the thump of her heartbeat. “So stay safe.  _ Alive.  _ For me.” 

V didn’t have the heart to tell her that that was the only present she might not be able to give. She cleared her clogged-up throat instead.

“So… should I return all this?”

Judy surveyed the mess of tech in the living room, looked back at V, and gave her a quick peck on the lips before breaking out into a giddy grin. “You fucking gonk.”

V mirrored her giddy grin. Judy liked it. Judy  _ liked  _ it. She'd take on a million Animals just to see Judy this happy for a brand new ergonomically-friendly office desk, sparkling top-of-the-line tools, state-of-the-art computer, monitors, and BD scrollers, glove, and the most expensive chair on the market to help with Judy's back. 

"Now that you're here, maybe you'd be able to help. I'm not exactly the best at tech…"

“It’s a date,” Judy decided, and helped V up. She pulled V into her chest, pressing her lips insistently against hers. When they pulled back, Judy stared up at V with glittering eyes. “Thank you.”

Later, Judy reciprocated and gave V several presents in the form of utter orgasmic pleasure. 

Even later than that, V came home to find a portion of the apartment transformed into a fully-functioning gun armory, with Judy standing proudly in front of it, her face and overalls covered in grease. 

V laughed, held her output in her hands, and voiced her thoughts that unlike V, Judy didn’t need any help assembling this at all. Judy’s only reasoning came in the form of calling V a gonk, and Johnny agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know if I should continue this, I'm on the fence about it...


End file.
